Bristol-Myers 1st-qtr profits soar, beating forecasts

US pharma major Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) reported first-quarter 2015 financial results today, with revenues of $4.04 billion, a rise of 6% (+13% excluding the impact of currencies), topping the forecasts of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Equity research, who expected $3.84 billion.

First-quarter profit was $1.19 billion, a rise of 27%, or $0.71 per share on an adjusted basis, also exceeding the average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks for earnings of $0.50 per share. Earnings were helped by cost cuts and a higher estimate of royalties owed the company from sales of its Abilify (aripiprazole) schizophrenia treatment. B-MS shares were up just under 2% to $66.29 in pre-market trading this morning.

Maxim Jacobs, an analyst at Edison Investment Research, said: “Bristol-Myers had a stellar quarter but unfortunately it was all driven by sales of Abilify, which will face generic competition next month. To help dampen any hit to earnings from the advent of generic competition to Ablify, Bristol-Myers has fortunately already started slashing R&D and SG&A.”